The Professor Errant

I thought I would do a post on my credit card earning strategy…so here it is! It’s nothing fancy or elaborate…I won’t even claim I’m doing things the best way…

I think my first credit cards (when I was in college) were a Sears store card and a Pentagon FCU Visa (my parents’ bank at the time; they paid the bill for it). Those cards are long gone of course.

Legacy

I don’t really consider these part of my travel cards. I had them before I was really aware of the points and miles hobby. But I still use them to this day.

• Chase Freedom Visa – originally this was one of the first credit cards I ever had, after the two I mentioned above. It was a Borders Visa! Yes, the old Borders Books, that Borders! Its rewards program was pretty simple. You’d get $5 certs (for use at Borders, of course) for spending on the card. No clue what the earning rate was… That was right up my alley 20 years ago, since I love books. (Still do!) Unfortunately, Borders eventually went out of business and the Borders Visa went bye-bye as well. The issuer, Chase, turned it into a Chase Freedom card. And that was my main (and only, outside of some store cards) CC for many years. It’s pretty much just a cash back card to me these days. I’ve never had another Chase card to enable my Ultimate Rewards to transfer to airlines or hotels. I don’t think Chase even offers it for application anymore. You have to get the Freedom Flex or Unlimited now.
• Capital One Venture One Visa – this was the first joint card my husband Rob and I got when we moved in together (we weren’t married at the time). I’m not sure why I chose it. I had banked with Cap One before and it just seemed like a good card, I guess. I had no idea that they are sometimes stingy with their approvals! Guess we got lucky… We still use it for a lot of everyday spending and take advantage of the purchase eraser for travel purchases. 1.25x miles isn’t the best earning rate so we’ve never had a big stash of Cap One miles.

Airlines

Back in 2019 was when I started to realize that there were other ways to get airline miles than actual flying! This was a great revelation since I knew I would never fly enough to generate enough miles for anything useful. And this was when I first learned that annual fees aren’t a bad thing!

• Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard – this one started out as an Aviator Red, of course. I got the card because I noticed we seemed to fly on American a lot AND I read about Japan Airlines business class seats being only 60,000 miles through American. (This was in 2019) We had been wanting to go to Tokyo and it just seemed like a no-brainer. Easy SUB (sign up bonus): 1 purchase and pay the annual fee and you get 60,000 miles. Through the bonus, AA miles I already had from flights, card spending, shopping portal and dining program spending…I actually ended up with enough AA miles for us to go business to Tokyo and economy on the way back, all on points. It was my first big redemption and felt great. Of course, COVID threw a big monkey wrench into that trip, but that’s for another post… Last year I upgraded it to Silver, very excited for the higher earning rates, right in time for the announcement that Citi is taking over all American Airlines cards. Sigh. So we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of it. Right now I use it for American Airlines charges, rental cars, and non-Hilton hotel charges.
• Alaska Airlines Visa – my most recent card acquisition. I am trying to accumulate as many Alaska miles as possible for our planned 2026 (second) trip to New Zealand! We fly Alaska a fair bit AND they have some good sweet spots for premium economy and business to Auckland. Along with Alaska charges, we’ve moved all our streaming bills to it. And I use it to pay my mom’s rent through Bilt!

Hotels

Around the time (2019) that I realized there were ways of earning large amounts of Airline miles without flying, I also found out you could get lots of hotel points without staying in them!

• Hilton Honors Surpass Amex – I consider this (along with the Aviator) to be my first real points and miles card. It was also my first American Express card ever! Just like with American, I noticed that we tended to stay in Hiltons (even on our wedding night!) so it seemed like a good choice. And it gave us automatic Gold status, something I’d never had before. Well worth it! It came with a Priority Pass (10 visits to lounges/year) that I was really looking forward to using…but then the pandemic hit the year after we got the card. And then they discontinued the PP on this card. I think we got to use it a total of twice. Once at the Turkish Lounge at IAD and for a lounge at Auckland airport on our way home from New Zealand (first trip!). Early on I used this card a lot but now mainly just Hilton stuff and some recurring subscriptions. Needless to say, it has given us a lot of free (or mostly free) stays. Our entire stay in Japan, at the Hilton Tokyo and the Hilton Tokyo Bay, was covered.

Cash Back

For a lot of everyday spending, that doesn’t necessarily fall into bonus categories, I like to use cash back cards. I’ve already mentioned my old Chase Freedom card. I’ve also picked up a couple of other ones in recent times. I’ve also used these (initially) as balance transfer cards.

• Amex Blue Cash Everyday – this card gives 3% back on groceries, online retail, and gas (in U.S., up to $6000 in each category annually). I’m in the “paying down the balance transfer” stage of this one but I’m looking forward to using this one a lot for my online shopping.
• Citi Double Cash – this one is just straight 2% back, no categories (1% for purchases, 1% for paying them off). So it works great for most things. Technically this earns Citi Thank You points but since I don’t have a fancier Citi card (with an annual fee), they have limited transferability. I’m fine with that.

Flexible Points

I never had any cards with flexible (transferable) points until recently because they usually require an annual fee and I was always afraid of those fees and didn’t see the point of paying them. Of course, I feel much differently these days. I started with fee-based airline and hotel cards but eventually set my sights on the flexible stuff.

• Amex Gold – Rob and I spend a lot on restaurants and groceries. So the Gold card, with 4x on both of those was the obvious card to get. I’d love to get the Platinum someday but the super high fee on it is a bridge too far right now. Maybe someday…right now the Gold’s is much more manageable. Membership Rewards are pretty great. The SUB on this card got us business class seats to Paris (with a little help from Capital One miles) on Air France.
• Bilt Mastercard – this card is a rare one that gives you a flexible currency without an annual fee (and without foreign transaction fees!). Heck, you don’t even need the card to earn Bilt points (though you earn a lot more with the card). I originally got it to pay my mom’s rent, though I’ve transitioned to using the Alaska card through Bilt to do that now (more Alaska points!). And also, Bilt is the only transfer partner for Alaska, as well!

For the Future

I don’t have any cards that I plan to get in the near future. But there are a few I think about. Amex Platinum has always been aspirational for me, for the lounge access, though the huge AF does put me off. I don’t have any Chase cards with transferable URs. If I were to get one, it would probably be the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred.

For now, I’ll just stick with what we’ve got.

Note: none of the above links are affiliate links (I don’t have any! Maybe I should look into that…) so I get nothing when someone clicks on them. BUT if anyone wants a referral link (those I do have for some!), just let me know.